Peterpools

Thanks Martin Absolutely 100% enjoyment - couldn't ask for more.

Thanks Gus; completely agree and the very few fit issues I've had, were all builder induced. I even missed the feel and smell of Tamiya plastic; yup, a pure Fan Boy even at my tender age.

Thanks Mike, much appreciated and absolutely a wonderful break from the 'not to mention kit'. Just a pleasure to sit at the bench and work on a project that is enjoyable and doesn't require a bottle of Excedrin.

PROGRESS FOR SURE Charging ahead, progress has been made: Forward section of the fuselage glued up, seams filled and ready to be added to the main fuselage section. A number of parts still need to be added a bit later down the road. The main fuselage with the wing swing system was a joy to build ... no issues at all – just don’t lose any of the screws or washers. As with every Tomcat kit I’ve built over the years and have seen built online, the intakes have always required the most attention and fuss and Tamiya’s, while the best in solving the fit issues, there were still a few to deal with. I was critically careful in how I airbrushed, cleaned and assembled all the parts and while the left hand side assembly went on perfectly, the right hand side didn’t; I tweaked and fussed and just couldn’t get the intake to sit square and flat. With some TLC, it finally settled into place. This is absolutely one area, due to Tamiya’s incredible exacting tolerances, every ounce of paint that would affect the part fit had to be removed. None of the fuselage seams actually disappeared on their own, all glued in place with Revell Professional Contacta Glue, taped and clamped. Every seam real or imaginary was gone over with Flexy 5K CA Black CA . Job done. The wings are beautifully detailed and thank goodness none of the flying surfaces are separate parts, as my Big Cat will have the wings in the inflight sweep position, on the deck, parked and I didn't want any of the control surfaces to be dropped or open. At the trailing edge of the underside of the wings. Tamiya chose to bring the glue seam up a tad away from the trailing edge to allow for a neat, clean and sharp edge but that created a non-existing panel line/seam that needs to be filled and removed – job done as well.

John I'm willing to bet, it can't go on forever, but I'll take every step with none as a victory.

Carl Pre-shading and weathering is looking so mightly good.

PW Just add me to the list - beautiful work.

Rob Right with Martin and the fruits of your patience and critical eye is so very apparent. Looking brilliant.

Martin Wonderful progress and some perfect results with the masks for the registration numbers and markings. the

Peter At a complete loss of words - nothing knew as I not only admire your beautifully skilled work but relentless pursuit of perfection. 🏆

John Another awesome Corsair done and in the books. Great choice and decision on doing an FAA aircraft .🏆

John perfection ... another perfectly built Corsair ... and so nice to see in a FAA markings as well.🏆

Kev Looking mighty good. patience of a saint for such detail work

Dave Nice progress and right with Martin

Rob Lucky man and so glad you received your order. The exhausts look awesome.

Martin Aces on the dome - came out looking fantastic 🏆

Carl Nice progress and you sure will be having a lot of practice with the squiggle pre-shading. Now I know why at times there is a paint shortage.

Thanks John Making progress and can't believe it but not a single thing to complain about - now how about that!

Tanks Carl After a few days break and 'regrouping the troops', I'm now looking forward to bench time and building again. Hard to understand how and why GWH is so expensive and when compared to the Tamiya Tomcat and I would never buy it for that reason alone. I built the P-40 a while back, nice kit but after finishing it, thought the same: overpriced, not the best of instructions and some fit issues, when compared to Tamiya's Spitfire, Mustangs and Corsair kits. I'm sure there is AM out there for the conversion, but it just may bump up the price of the Tamiya kit close to the GWH offering but I would still always favor Tamiya. a

PW Very much appreciated. Just nothing like a Tamiya kit for pure enjoyment.

Thanks Mike Nice to sit at the bench again and enjoy myself, what a difference as compared to banging, my head against the preverbal wall and making little to no progress as before.

Martin Amazing and ingenious for sure.

F-14A TOMCAT VF-114 1976 USS KITTYHAWK Tamiya 1/48 Long story short, the Songbird is on the SOD and I decided to go back to my original choice for the GB; the awesome Tamiya 1/48 F-14A Tomcat. I’ve built the kit once before, loved it and for inspiration, all I needed to do is take a fifteen minute car drive to The Grumman Memorial Park in Calverton and just sit and look on the F-14A Tomcat on display. With our cable out from Saturday evening until Sunday evening, I devoted almost all of my day to catching up on the build. Decals are the brilliant Furball Sheet #48-20 for VF-114 Aardvarks Quinta 3D cockpit set used to its fullest. Paints: MRP and Tamiya Lacquers Two AM ejection seats which I think are Wolfpack but really don’t remember. Reference, mostly for correct colors, is the first edition of Randy Coremans, Daco publications: Uncovering the Grumman F-14 A/B/D Tomcat. First up was the front office, no issues at all. Interior: FS36231. Loads of details and I was knee deep in detail painting and applying the Quinta set. Incredible as it sounds, the sheet had a mistake: decal 28 is shown in two places. I just substituted another decal that looked correct for the lower RIO panel and good to go. A lot of time was devoted to the Grumman Ejection seats, painting all the small details and then a round of dry brushing. Surely looks good in the office. The front nose wheel gear bay was typical of the detail Tamiya includes with their 48th scale kits. A joy to build and all the details were highlighted with Tamiya Dark Brown Panel Line Wash – helped popped the details and added a nice bit of weathering. Just love the details Light weathering in the gear bay. The correct color white:FS 17875

Carl Did you email Clint, I'm willing to bet he will be able to help. Combining the two methods surely will look perfect and be the effect you're after.

The Big Cat is back on the bench and underway. Update in a few days.